Coming Home Again
by rockyb1993
Summary: Edward decides to come back to Bella before she ever jumped off the cliff. Only problem is, Bella has changed and has a hard time forgiving Edward for all the pain he caused her. Will Edward be able to win her back, or will he have to accept that Bella has chosen Jacob over him?
1. An Epiphany

The thing that I remember most about being human was the desire to make my life important. The desire to have people remember me even after I died, and to change me and my family's circumstances. I wanted to change things that were greater than myself, and to help other people.

I thought the best way to do that would be to join the Army. And that thought, that goal, consumed my every thought. I was much too stubborn and selfish to listen to my mother's protests when I told her that I planned to enlist as soon as I turned eighteen. I had even seriously considered faking my age in order to leave early.

Not much has changed since then really. I am still stubborn and still unforgivably selfish. I wanted to change that. I thought that if I left so that I could give her time to move on, no matter how much pain it caused me, then that would mean that I care more about her than I do myself. But, I'm starting to think that might not true at all.

Not because she hadn't moved on or found someone else. I still didn't know about that, but because I made the stupid mistake of thinking that it would be easier staying away from her than it would be to leave her.

Leaving was next to impossible, but staying away from her was a thousand times harder. When I left she had willingly let me go, I could see in her eyes that she honestly believed that I had stopped being in love with her. As if that could ever happen for as long as I existed. But when I left her, I left my heart, and whatever was left of my soul with her. And it was next to impossible to live without them, without her. I was sure that if I were human, I could've died from the pain.

Now I was stuck in… I didn't even know where, walking through crowds of people out late at night drinking and cursing in Spanish while I only tried to keep a low profile. Victoria was nowhere near me. In fact, I was pretty sure she wasn't even in the country anymore. I had lost her for a week now and could only hope that she was nowhere near Washington. Even the thought of her being near Bella made me cringe.

The low profile thing wasn't exactly working out for me at the moment either. Being apart from Bella caused me to radiate depression and hostility. Anyone that ever said a word to me I responded to by cursing at them in whatever language they spoke. I'm pretty sure most people thought that I was some sort of crazed pyscopath. My family had given up on calling or texting me. They had even sent Jasper and Alice to negotiate me back to Alaska, with no luck. Tanya had called as well. But, I ignored them all. If I had an ounce of dignity or shame left in me, I would have felt guilty about the way that I had treated them all, but I didn't. Nothing mattered to me anymore except making sure that Bella was safe and happy.

Crossing the street, I realized that I had been too lost in my thoughts to realize that I had no idea where I was going and that I had probably been walking much faster than I should have been. But, when I turned the corner, I noticed a large crowd of people, larger than the crowds outside of the bars at this time of night. Most were dressed in suits or long dresses and drinking beer or what looked like some sort of cocktail. Some people even had tears in their eyes.

And then I looked up. In front of me and towering over the crowd was a beautifully old and decrepit church. It was tall, with peeling and yellowing white stucco. It looked like it had not been repainted in years and underneath the numerous spots where the stucco had peeled off entirely, was a dark and old wood paneling. The paneling matched the two ten foot tall maple doors at the front of the building underneath a stained glass window. It was impossible to tell what the window was supposed to depict since many of the pieces had evidently fallen out. But, the pieces that were still left were such bright and clear colors, that they changed the colors of the light shining from the inside of the church and reflected colored patterns onto the dirt road.

The couple standing in front of the church was a young and light skinned couple both with dark brown hair. The groom was wearing a white tux and had a ridiculously large grin on his face. The bride had on a long, white dress with gloves and pearls and lace sewn into the top of the bodice. She looked absolutely radiant and reminded me instantly of Bella. They both had their arms wrapped around each other's waists and were looking into each other's eyes with stupid grins on their faces. It was blatantly obvious that they were madly in love.

My stomach flipped. I had tried my hardest to avoid anything that reminded me of Bella. I turned away whenever I passed by an affectionate couple, avoided Romantic movies and books. Hell, even my own family only made me think of her even more.

And yet here I was standing in front of a desperately happy and in love couple. The worst part was how very much the bride looked like Bella.

Stupidly, I decided to try and inch closer so that I could understand what they were whispering to each other over the overlapping voices of the crowd. Until I could hear them speaking in Spanish to each other.

"You look absolutely beautiful, my dear."

"Thank you, and you look very handsome too you know." I could tell, although it probably was too brief for him to notice that she hesitated before saying something else. "You didn't get cold feet did you? Marco said that he didn't see you almost all day yesterday and I was just wondering if…"

He interrupted her, putting a finger to her lips. "Of course not, I would've told him what I had been up to when I came back but, I wanted it to be a surprise and we both know that Marco can't keep his goddamn mouth shut." He pulled out a small, dark blue, square box from his pocket. "I went to the city that day to get you this after I saw it in a magazine. I still want to get you a real wedding ring but, for now, I hope this will be good enough."

He handed her the box and she opened it and pulled out a small gumball machine looking silver ring. My vision was just good enough that I was able to make out the word that he had engraved around the outside of the band, "Forever".

Seeing that one word had me crumbling to the floor in despair. I couldn't stand the thought of spending forever without Bella. I had spent all of this time only trying to get through one second; I hadn't even realized that I would have to spend every second of eternity feeling like I had for the past six months. Missing my family, my home and, most of all, my life and my happiness, had taken its toll on me and now all I felt was an aching, crushing depression.

Most of all though, I missed Bella. I missed seeing her smile and how the blood rushed to her cheeks when she was embarrassed. I missed how warm and soft her skin was and the sound of her laugh. I missed everything about her. She was my life, my soul, and my heart, my life without her was nothing. Even being thousands of miles away from her my every thought and action revolved around her and trying to protect her.

Within the last five minutes, my resolve had crumbled entirely. I realized now how entirely selfish I really was and that I had to have a life with her, even if I was risking her safety. But couldn't I only try harder to keep her away from danger. No, with me in Bella's life, it was impossible to keep her away from danger.

I realized now that what I wanted more than anything in the world was to call Bella 'Mine'. I wanted to see her dressed in a white dress and vow to love her forever. What I wanted was to introduce her as my wife and kiss her every day. I needed to hear her voice again and to tell her how very much I love her.

I had to go back to her.


	2. Unexpected Welcoming

The light from her window was soft, as if she had a lamp on even though it was about 4:15 in the morning.

It had taken me 12 hours to find a plane that would take me out of South America and over to the U.S. Apparently late November is when a huge flock of tourists decide to vacation in South America, in order to escape the cold. This was very inconvenient for me. Fucking tourists. On top of the effort that it took to fly out of the country, I was forced to take another two flights in coach just so that I could get to Washington. I ran after that, making sure that no one saw me or recognized me.

I don't know why I was in such a hurry to get to Bella in the first place. She was probably horrifyingly mad at me. Either that or she had moved on, like I had intended her to. As much as I wished that I could say that I would be happy for her if that were the case, I knew that I would be lying to myself. I was selfish enough to want Bella to be mine entirely. Just the thought of her wrapped in someone else's arms, spending the rest of her life with someone other than me, tied my stomach into knots. I wanted to be with her and only me. That's how much of a selfish and controlling bastard I was.

As for the thought of her being mad at me, maybe even to the point of not wanting to see me or talk to me. Well, that was probably exactly what I deserved. In fact, maybe I deserved even more than that, I shouldn't have been surprised if she hadn't even have wanted to talk to me. After I had left her with hardly even an explanation, made her believe that I was no longer in love with her (which of course was absolutely ridiculous). Yes, I deserved for her to want to move on.

I had no idea how very right I would be about her opinion of me.

My sensitive hearing was able to pick up the sound of her tossing and turning in bed, sighing. And then she very softly muttered my name in her sleep, "Edward, come back".

My heart flooded with relief and my entire body felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off of me. She still remembered me, still wanted me to come back to her and be there with her. Maybe she hadn't moved on.

The tree outside of her window had grown within the last few months and it was difficult for me to climb it without have to push branches out of my way as I climbed. And when I finally reached her window, it was difficult for even my eyes to see her through the overgrown leaves. If I really wanted to see her, I would have to go through her window.

I hadn't planned on speaking to her and letting her see me the first night that I came back. Of course I wanted to be around her as soon as possible. See how her life was now, if she was at all different. But, most of all I just wanted to be around to protect her and be there for her when she needed me. Then, I would gradually drop her hints of my return. Maybe start giving her some of her…no, our things back, so that I could see if she even really wanted me to come back to her. Plus, that way it wouldn't be so much of a shock.

But, when I forced open her window and climbed through, I knew that I would not be able to keep away from her. I had to be with her. She was even more beautiful than I had remembered. Her hair was still wet from a shower, making it even darker and a stronger strawberry and floral scent. Although, I was not able to concentrate on the smell of her hair so much as smell of the blood rushing through her veins. That smell stopped me in my tracks and made my fists clench together. It was even stronger than I remembered it being.

I was able to ignore her scent more easily now, knowing what it was like being away from this girl and knowing what the pain would be like if I ever caused her any pain myself.

Her lips were parted, breathing softly and her hands were lying curled next to her face on the pillow. She was wearing nothing but an old ratted t-shirt that revealed bits of her stomach. Her long legs were wrapped around her sheets. Bella was absolutely breathing taking and I felt the muscles in my stomach clench just from looking at her. I would never love anyone as much as I loved this beautiful, simple, sweet girl.

I sat in the rocking chair next to her, inches from her face. My hand hovered over her face, her hair, waist, legs, lips. I wanted to reach out and touch her, and to finally feel the soft skin that I had missed so desperately. Even though it had only been a few months since I had seen her, to me it felt like centuries. I always pulled my hand back at the very last second though, not wanting to disturb her. Until I just couldn't take it anymore and I leaned forward, pressed my lips to the corner of her mouth and whispered her name for the first time in what seemed like forever, "Bella, my Bella".

"Mmm, Edward" She murmured softly and my dead, cold heart flipped when she opened her deep brown eyes and looked right at me. But then she closed them again and groaned.

"Bella, what's wrong?" The first thought in my head was that she really didn't want to see me. Maybe when she whispered my name in her sleep, it had just been because of an old habit and nothing more.

"I need to wake up now before this dream gets any worse, but I really don't want to."

"Bella you're not dreaming sweetheart, I'm here. I've missed you so much. I just couldn't take it any longer; I couldn't be away from you any longer. It was killing me. I love you Bella, so much…"The words flooded out of me. All of a sudden I realized that I needed her to know how much pain it had caused me being away from her and how desperately I loved her. These were the words that I had been holding in ever since I left. I just couldn't let anyone know how much I missed her and how much pain I had been in since I left. Because it was my fault anyways; my fault for hurting her, for putting her in danger, and for making myself miserable. But before I could say anymore, she interrupted me.

"Uuuuugh, please just stop!"

"What's wrong Bella?"

"I am so fucking sick of having these stupid dreams every single night! Why the hell can't I just once sleep all the way through the fucking night without having these goddamn dreams about YOU?"

I was stunned speechless. She seemed so upset and the guilt overwhelmed me. She was obviously stressed and despairing, hardly like Bella at all except for the deep pools of her chocolate brown eyes that now had dark circles surrounding them.

"Bella." I said, "You are not dreaming. I'm here and I am never, ever leaving you again"

"Prove it." It was clear that she was sure I wouldn't be able to.

I had to think through this request. How would I be able to make her truly believe that she was not dreaming, that I was here and I was not ever leaving again? And then it hit me. I would do something that I longed to do almost as soon as I had laid eyes on her. Something that I never did do because I still doubted that I could control myself. But now I knew better, I could never harm her.

I slowly leaned in to capture my lips with hers, warning her by looking into her eyes. And then I started out by softly taking her soft, full bottom lip between mine. But that wasn't nearly good enough. All of the longing, the sadness, the love for her that I had and that had grown for her over the past few months I put into that kiss. And it seemed like she was doing the same.

I leaned over the bed and pressed my body against hers. The kiss soon became fast and desperate. I so badly wanted to get my fill of her, knowing that I never would.

And then I squeezed her bottom lip between mine and bit down. The moan that I heard from her was just about the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. But, it was soon followed by a gasp as she pulled away from me; her eyes were wide and filled with unshed tears that were threatening to spill out.

"It's you, you're really here" A normal human would barely have been able to hear her whisper.

"Yes, Bella. I'm really here." The joy in my voice was evident and I put my hand up to rest against her cheek as I had dreamed of doing for so long.

But then she pulled away again.

"How could you? How dare you come back here after everything that you put me through, you selfish son of a bitch?"

And just like that, all of my fears came true.


	3. Only Bella

"How could you? How dare you come back here after everything that you put me through, you selfish son of a bitch?"

And just like that, all of my fears came true.

"What… I..." I had no words. There were no words. How could I describe to her how desperately sorry I was and that I knew that I more than deserved every ounce of remorse and guilt that I was feeling at this very moment?

I knew that I deserved her words and the way that she was leaning away from me, not touching me, and staring at me with wide, angry eyes. But to be honest, deep down, although I was ashamed to admit it, I had expected her to forgive me. She had always been so forgiving and generous. She forgave me when I had almost let her get killed by both James and Jasper. I had told her what I was, that I had killed before and that I almost had killed her those first few days that I knew her. And yet she had tolerated all of that. She had tolerated it all in order to be with me. The once thing that she could not forgive me for however, was leaving and making her think that I didn't really love her, which maybe she still did believe. I couldn't blame her for being so angry with me.

"I know Bella, I know. I feel like the most awful and stupid person in the world. I should've known better. I should've known that I would never have been strong enough to stay away from you. You are my life Bella, my reason for existing and when I was away it was like I was drawn to you. My every thought was about nothing but you and going back to you. I am more sorry than you will ever know. I wish that I had a way of showing you how terrible, and guilty, and just… well, shitty I feel about having left you. And well, I need you to know Bella that it will never happen again. I will never leave you again because I know now that I am just not strong enough to be away from you. I love you too much, Bella."

I must have looked so pathetic at that moment. I had slid away from her, sensing that now was not a good time to be too close to her or touching her. That would take some time, and so I was kneeling in front of her. Her legs were dangling off the edge of the bed and she seemed to be fighting to continue looking in my eyes. I didn't care if I seemed as if I were begging her though, I gladly would, if that was what it took.

"Do you really think that's what I care about? Do you really think that I care that you couldn't stay away from me? Of course not! I'm glad that you regret leaving, but you caused me so much pain. All my life I have barely asked for anything and tried my hardest to give other people what they wanted but now I'm sick of it!"

She took my face in between her hands and I tried to ignore the shock that ran from my scalp down to my toes. But then I realized that it was not in a loving way, but an angry way. As if she were trying to crush my skull in her hands with her soft, delicate fingers. The guilt radiated through me the same way that her touch did as I tried to listen to her next words.

"You made me truly believe that you didn't love me anymore and broke my heart, turned me into nothing, and now you come back and tell me that it was all a lie. First of all, how can you possibly expect me to believe that you truly do love me? Second of all, if you do love me at all, (which I doubt) how could you have put me through all that? I was devastated when you left, I was a mess."

I believed it, the pained look in her eyes and the way she was trying to hide them from me, made that obvious. I couldn't have her trying to hide her face from me; I had lived without it for much too long. So, I tilted her face up to mine. "Isabella. How could you have ever believed that I didn't love you? You're not stupid, and yet for you to believe the worst lie I have ever told so quickly and easily…"

I broke off, finding it hard to believe that she had so little faith in me. But that wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was how much pain I had caused her, I thought that she would have forgotten me by now, moved on. But apparently it wasn't so easy, not even for her.

"If I had known how bad this was going to be, for the both of us, I never would have left. If only you could understand my side Bella. I am dangerous, my whole family is dangerous and there has been so much proof of that. Just you being near me Bella, that alone could very easily kill you."

That was exactly why I had left in the first place. But of course, she didn't care. She never had cared about her own life, or her safety.

"Stop it Edward." She said. "Even if you weren't a fucking vampire I still would have gotten killed dozens of times. In fact, if you weren't a vampire, I would be dead by now. I would've gotten run over by that truck just after you'd first met me and that wasn't your fault. Just stop blaming yourself for everything, you're not that important."

"I can't help but wonder though, if you had never met me, if you would've still had all of these near death experiences or if you would've been safer."

"Well it's not like I wasn't ever in danger even after you left!" She blurted out before realizing the affect this would have on me.

"What do you mean? What happened? What kind of danger? Bella, what happened when I was gone, tell me please?" I had to know what had happened to her when I was gone. I would've asked her anyways sooner or later. But, now that I knew that she could've gotten hurt and I wasn't there to protect her, now I was even more desperate to know. Her getting hurt was exactly what was NOT supposed to have happened after I left.

"It's not that big of a deal" She said, hoping to calm me down. "There was a thing with a motorcycle, I kind of crashed. But I was okay, it was just a little cut. And Laurent came back, but it's fine now. Obviously I'm okay, no broken bones or anything."

"Laurent came back?" That was another thing that wasn't supposed to happen after I left.

"Damn it Bella! Are you sure you're ok? Things like that are exactly why I left, so that you would never have to see another dangerous vampire again, so that you wouldn't get caught up in the things that my family and I have to deal with." I was both furious and confused and both of these emotions were fighting for dominance inside my head. "What did happen? What did he want and how did you get away from him?"

"Well obviously that plan of yours didn't work out very well, did it? And if it hadn't been for Jacob and his pack finding me, Laurent probably would have killed me because you weren't there!"

Her words tied knots in my stomach. If I didn't know Bella so well, I would've been confused. But it was Bella and the words Jacob and pack could only mean one thing. I suddenly remembered her friend Jacob that had stolen a dance with Bella from me at the prom. He had been the one that had told Bella that I was a vampire. And he belonged in a pack. That could only mean the worst thing possible. The worst thing that Bella could have gotten herself wrapped up in while I was gone…

Werewolves.


	4. Somebody's Pissed!

Her words tied knots in my stomach. If I didn't know Bella so well, I would've been confused. But it was Bella and the words 'Jacob' and 'pack' could only mean one thing. I suddenly remembered the young boy Jacob that had stolen a dance with Bella from me at the prom. He had been the one that had told Bella that I was a vampire. And he belonged in a pack. That could only mean the worst thing possible. The worst thing that Bella could have gotten herself wrapped up in while I was gone…

Werewolves.

"What do you mean his _pack_?" I asked. I had to tell her, to warn her just how dangerous this seemingly, insignificant boy could be.

"Bella, this Jacob kid, I know he's your friend and everything and he may have helped you or even saved you when I was away and for that I will be eternally grateful to him. But, you have to understand that…I know he seems like a good kid but, he may not always be, he…" I frowned and looked down, closing my eyes and tried to think of a way that I could warn her. I had to let her know the truth without breaking the treaty and scaring her. I briefly wondered if she would believe me even if I could tell her the truth.

"Bella, I know that Jacob seems like a good kid, but he may not always be. Some of those kids that live on the rez, they're mixed up in some bad stuff. Many of them can be very impulsive and they have awful tempers."

"You're being very prejudiced, you know"

It must seem that way, that I was acting more like a racist rather than trying to warn her about her dangerous friend. I couldn't help but smile.

"I know, but there's a reason for it. I'm being serious, Bella! He could be very dangerous and if he's not now there's a chance that he could be in the very near future. Especially given his family's history, and if you were anywhere near him if he got angry or upset…"

"Edward I know that Jacob's a Werewolf. And from the sound of it, it seems like you've known about that too. But to be honest I think that you are being a goddamn hypocrite! You're the one that's always telling me that I should stay away from you! I thought you were supposed to be the dangerous one and now it's Jacob!"

She was right. But it wasn't my fault that the girl that I was so desperately in love with was such a magnet for danger. First she made me fall in love with her and now she was friends with a werewolf. She was better off without both of us. With her newfound temper, I knew that she would not respond well to my saying so.

I almost couldn't believe that she knew that her best friend was a werewolf, and yet clearly she was perfectly fine with it. Although, this was Bella. I shouldn't have been surprised, but I still had to know…

"How did you find out?"

"Kind of the same way that I figured it out with you. He dropped me hints about gave me enough clues until I was finally able to put the pieces together and figure it out for myself." Of course she did. She was always so clever, maybe even a little bit too clever.

"Look, I'm sorry that I'm saying this. And if I felt like I didn't need to then I wouldn't. But I do feel like it's necessary and I think that you need to stay away from him. He could be dangerous and I will not ever forgive myself if I allowed you to get hurt when I could've done something to prevent it." I murmured, frowning and looking at her soft legs tucked next to her hips.

"But don't you see, you already have." This was a low blow.

"And besides, Jacob is not going anywhere. He's my best friend and he was there when you weren't. He was the only person that knew what I was feeling and what I needed. He was the only person that could take my mind off of you. I can't tell him that I won't see him anymore just because you came back. That wouldn't be fair to him, especially after…"

Another low blow. That I couldn't be there when she was in pain was heartbreaking. What was even more heartbreaking was the knowledge that I had been the one to cause her that pain. And that it had been someone else that was there to comfort her.

"Especially after what?" I said, knowing that she was keeping something from me.

"After…all that he's done for me these past few months, including him helping me get away from Laurent."

"You're a bad liar Bella." This seemed to renew her anger. I wondered if it was because she did not want to tell me the truth. What could possibly be so bad that she would what to keep this from me so much?

"FINE! If you have to know every single little thing that happened to me while you left, then I'll tell you. Just keep in mind that I thought that you were gone for good! And I was not going to spend the rest of my life crying over you when there was nothing that I could do!"

"Just before Jacob told me that he was a Werewolf, he told me that he had feelings for me. I knew that I would be lying if I said that I didn't have feelings for him too. I just didn't know exactly what those feelings were. Anyways, after I found out that he was a Werewolf, he asked me if I wanted to be with him. I thought that you were never coming back and although I knew that I would always still be in love with you; I didn't want to spend the rest of my life alone either. So, I said yes."

It was worse than I could have imagined. Much worse. Not only was her best friend an immature, impulsive, and harmful werewolf, he was in love with my Bella. He had been persuasive and manipulative enough that he managed to convince her that she had feelings for him too. As much as I was angry at myself for having caused this in the first place, I was horrified that this stupid little wolf had even laid one finger on Bella.

I knew that this was one of the worst possible things that could've happened. I had wanted Bella to move on, but with a werewolf, and so soon? This Jacob had to keep away from her. It was the best possible solution. Not for me, but for Bella; this kid was dangerous. Since I knew that Bella was never going to listen to me and stay away from him, I could only think of one other solution. That idea soon consumed my every thought and my rage and jealousy blocked out everything else.

Before I knew it I was re-opening the window, putting my jacket back on and rummaging through Bella's room looking for her cell phone. The light was just now barely glowing over the horizon. We still had a couple more hours until Charlie would be awake.

I barely registered Bella's shocked and confused glare. "Edward what the hell are you doing? Where are you going?"

"Where's your cell phone?"

"It's in my purse on the night stand, why?"

"So I can call this Jacob asshole and tell him to come over here so that I can kick his ass!"

**Uh-oh! Now both Edward _and_ Bella are pissed! Yay!**

**Please review everyone. Even if you hate it. I enjoy constructive criticism, really, I do.**


	5. Chapter 5

"You think he's home?" I asked, not being entirely sure what a werewolf's schedule was like. Bella would know better than I did although the thought upset me.

"Of course he is, it's six in the morning where the hell else would he be? Edward please don't do this, you're being stupid and overreacting. We weren't even dating or anything, we've just been friends the whole time you were gone. Besides, it's not like any of this was his fault. " She was borderline upset and angry. The crease between her eyebrows was present and her lips were pursed at me. I hated making her upset and having to ignore the urge to kiss the corners of her lips to pull them up.

"Not his fault! Of course it's his fault. He should have stayed away from you the second he became a werewolf. If he lost control of his temper around you, he could kill you. He knows how dangerous he can be, he has to." I had a priority right now; to deal with Jacob. I would talk to Bella later, make her see my point of view hopefully. If I couldn't do that, well at least I would find some way to make her see how much I had missed her. I would make happy again, whatever it took.

"No more dangerous than you! Look, I know Jacob, he would never hurt me."

""Maybe not on purpose, and it doesn't matter whether it would be an accident or not, not to me, and I'm not taking any chances. Can you just call him for me please? I can't go any farther than here. He needs to meet me." I had been carrying Bella on my back and ran to the treaty line. Any farther than this and those fucking wolves would try to rip my head off.

"Why should I? I see no reason for you to talk to him, especially not this early in the morning and besides, what if Billy is the one that answers the phone, I don't want him to know that we're harassing his son, he's not a big fan of either of us as it is!" I could deal with Billy too. Maybe I could get him to convince Jacob to stay away from Bella. He hated me so much I'm sure he would do whatever it took to get me to back off.

"Please Bella. I can deal with Billy if I need to. And I'll be nice, I swear. I just need to talk to Jacob. She hesitated for a second and I gave her my best most convincing 'I love you' look. I would have to add manipulation and guilt to the list of things that I needed to make up for. But at least it worked.

"All right, fine. But be nice!"

The phone only rang once before a low and hoarse voice answered it, sounding noticeably irritated. This Jacob Black was clearly not a morning person.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Hello is this Jacob Black?"

"Yes and who is this and why are you calling me so damned early in the morning?"

"Hello Jacob, this is Edward Cullen. I am sorry to bother you this early but I need to talk to you about Bella and I don't think it's the kind of conversation I can put off for long."

"What the fuck? Wait a minute, who is it?" I had his attention now.

Bella grabbed the phone from me. I had the volume on the phone loud enough that she had been able to hear Jacob over the phone. "Hey Jake. Sorry about this. I tried to stop him but, well you know…"

"Bella wha-"

"Bella can't talk right now." I grabbed the phone back from her, knowing that I was being stupid, and possessive, and selfish. But Bella was mine and Hell would freeze over before I let her put herself in danger for some stupid, adolescent werewolf.

"Yes I can!" She was beyond livid.

"This is Edward Cullen. Bella's…boyfriend." I didn't like that word. It didn't seem like enough to describe Bella and I. "I'd rather not explain over the phone but I really do need to talk you to you. It's nothing bad. I just feel like I need to clear the air about what happened while I was gone, hunting Victoria." I felt the need to add that last part. I knew that I shouldn't care what Jacob thought, but I still didn't want him to think that my leaving had been a waste of time, which it was.

"Fine, I'll be right over." And with that he hung up. Bella was giving me the silent treatment which was even worse than when she had been screaming at me. I missed the sound of her voice. I also missed her sweet, innocent, but angry kitten glare whenever she was mad. But that was no more. Bella's anger would now be intimidating to someone that didn't know her as well as I did.

Only ten minutes passed by until Jacob pulled his Rabbit over onto the side of the rode and got out, stopping just behind the treaty line.

"Well if it isn't the bloodsucker. Have you decided to grace us with your presence once again? Or have you just decided that you didn't have enough fun by hurting Bella and putting her in danger and so now you're back to ruin our relationship too?" Who was he to tell me that I had hurt Bella? First of all, I already knew that I hurt Bella and I didn't need him to tell me that. Second, I was not the only one that could hurt Bella.

"Actually Jacob, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. First of all, to answer your question from earlier I have been back since last night, not that it's any of your business. And second of all, that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about, you and Bella's relationship. I want to thank you for taking care of my Bella and keeping her safe while I was gone. She told me what happened with Laurent and I don't think I can ever stop owing you for that. If something happened to her there would no longer be any reason for my existence. But, I am worried about Bella being around a werewolf. I'm sure you're a very good friend to her but as we both know being around a werewolf can be quite dangerous. If you were to lose control while she was around there's really no telling what could happen. And I am aware that there have been instances where someone has gotten hurt by…"

"Hold up. A bloodsucker who not only has to fight the urge to kill Bella every second that he's with her, has to control every move that he makes around her so that he doesn't crush her, has risked her life by allowing her to be around other bloodsuckers like you, and broke her heart by leaving her to fend for herself at a moment's notice, is worried about me hurting her? That's a little bit hypocritical don't you think?" That hurt.

Bella finally spoke up. "That's what I said! And for your information I am more than capable of fending for myself!" Apparently the silent treatment wasn't going to work for long.

"Look Jacob, I get that you care for Bella and maybe even love her and Bella is more than welcome to make whatever choices she wants, even if they don't include me. What I want more than anything is for her to be happy. But what I also want is for her to be safe and I don't think that she can be safe around a werewolf. I am more than sorry for leaving and it killed me to do it. But the only reason I did it was to keep her safe. Although, obviously my being away didn't keep her safe, in fact just the opposite, so now's my chance to make it up to her. I am going to keep Bella safe and I believe that right now the best way to do that is to keep her away from you."

"Sorry to disappoint you bloodsucker, but Bella is mine now and she's not going anywhere."


End file.
